See the Saskatchewan office's response to Minister Krawetz's "Austerity for Prosperity" 2012 budget here.
Saskatchewan's labour movement won a significant victory yesterday as Justice Dennis Ball ruled that Bill 5, The Public Service Essential Services Act (PSES) violated the constitutional right to strike and bargain collectively as upheld in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In his decision, Justice Ball concluded: “No other essential services legislation in Canada comes close to prohibiting the right to strike as broadly, and as significantly, as the PSES Act. No other essential services legislation is as devoid of access to independent, effective dispute resolution processes … None have such significantly deleterious effects on protected rights.”
Justice Ball's decision corresponds to the arguments that the Saskatchewan Office has consistently made regarding the legitimacy of Bill 5.
For backgrounders from the Saskatchewan Office on Bill 5 and the Charter challenge, visit here and here.
Director of the Saskatchewan Office, Simon Enoch, discusses the causes and consequences of income inequality with Planet S Magazine's Stephen LaRose.
View the article here.
While winning 64% of the popular vote, the Saskatchewan Party gained 84.5% of the seats in the November 7th provincial election. With this result, Saskatchewan joins the list of provinces this year that have seen widely distorted electoral results due to our 'first-past-the-post' electoral system. In this SaskNotes, Don Mitchell takes a look at the prospects for electoral reform in Saskatchewan.
Don Mitchell is a Moose Jaw city councillor, a former community development worker and a long time writer, researcher and activist on issues of the left. He is also an acting co-chair of the Fair Vote Canada Saskatchewan chapter, author of “The Politics of Food” and a former federal candidate for the New Democratic Party.
Despite Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and virtually every expert on criminal policy in the country rejecting Stephen Harper's Omnibus Crime Bill, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall continues to support the legislation. Find out why Brad owes it to the people of Saskatchewan to oppose Bill C-10 here
Simon Enoch, the Director of the Saskatchewan Office, talks Saskatchewan politics with Prairie Dog reporter Greg Beatty.
Visit here for the full discussion.
The Saskatchewan Office is proud to announce the release of After the Freeze: Restoring University Affordability in Saskatchewan by professor Paul Gingrich. This report examines the impact of rising tuition and living costs on the affordability of a university education in Saskatchewan. It concludes that university education in Saskatchewan became more affordable over the past six years as a direct result of the four-year tuition freeze and growing after-tax income. However, since the lifting of the tuition freeze in 2009, tuition has increased by 10.6 per cent, eroding the affordability of a university education for Saskatchewan students. In order to effectively restore a measure of affordability to university education in our province, government should institute a program of managed tuition reductions, phasing these reductions in over the period of several years.
To view the full report, visit here
The Saskatchewan Office would like to thank all of you who came out to hear Linda McQuaig in Regina and Saskatoon last week. For those of you that missed Linda, we have the first part of her Saskatoon talk up on YouTube. Many thanks to Gayle Marteniuk for making this accessible to all of our members and supporters!
Award-winning journalist and best-selling author Linda McQuaig will speak in both Regina and Saskatoon on Wednesday October 19th and Thursday October 20th.
Linda will discuss her new book, The Trouble with Billionaires, which critically examines how extremes of wealth undermine both our quality of life and our democracy.
Please join the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives for what is sure to be an evening of thought-provoking discussion.
Wednesday, October 19th 7:30 pm Education Auditorium, University of Regina
Thursday, October 20th 7:00 pm Third Avenue United Church, Saskatoon
Tickets will be available at the Door
The Trouble with Billionaires: Why too much money at the top is bad for everyone
The glittering lives of billionaires may seem like a harmless source of entertainment. But such concentrated economic power reverberates throughout society, threatening the quality of life and the very functioning of democracy. It's no accident that the United States claims the most billionaires – but suffers among the highest rates of infant mortality and crime, the shortest life expectancy, as well as the lowest rates of social mobility and electoral political participation in the developed world.
Our society tends to regard large fortunes as evidence of great talent or accomplishment. Yet the vast new wealth isn't due to an increase in talent or effort at the top, but rather to changing social attitudes legitimizing greed and government policy changes that favour the new elite. Authoritative and eye-opening, The Trouble with Billionaires will spark debate about the kind of society we want.
Contact the Saskatchewan Office at (306) 924-3373 or by email at ccpasask@sasktel.net
The CCPA’s bold vision and creative solutions help us imagine better futures for all. Its efforts to build bridges between labour, industry, and civil society and mentor young activists lay the foundation for realizing those provocative futures. I consider my support for the CCPA an investment in a better future for British Columbia.
— Polly Ng, Next Up graduate